Expensive RFID Sticker still a sticking point

First introduced as a way to identify Allied airplanes during World War II, RFID slowly expanded into other applications, such as identifying rail cars and pallets of goods. By 2000, the U.S. Department of Defense was widely using RFID to track inventory, and in 2003, the tracking tag hit the big time when retail giant Walmart decreed that its 100 largest suppliers must be ready to attach RFID tags to cases and pallets shipped to its DCs by 2005. The cost of RFID tags has fallen in recent years to close to 5 cents per unit—especially for the most popular passive tag design (meaning the tag has no power source and cannot actively broadcast a signal)—but that still represents a significant overhead expense, particularly for an item that might cost 99 cents.